Here at Art Wednesday we are all about promoting up and coming artists, as well as the movers and shakers in contemporary art. So when we pitched up to Philip Mould’s gallery on Dover Street (a gallery devoted to work by old masters) just before Christmas, for the launch of ‘Oil and Cloth’ – the joint exhibition between Mould and Allegra Hicks, we were pleasantly surprised by how much we enjoyed staring at the 300 year old portraits of grizzly old men and aristocratic women that adorned the walls. The oil paintings were luxurious, depicting characters from high society in all of their regalia. Interspersed between these portraits were strips of sumptuous fabrics from Allegra’s new collection ‘Islands’. It was a marriage of the old and new, but the look of the fabrics complemented the paintings in such a way that they seemed to belong together.
What we liked most of all were the mini portraits (only a mere £5000 for the tiniest of work), embellished with pearls. Chosen by specialist Emma Rutherford, Allegra had displayed them as mini ornaments hanging from sculpted wood that looked like coral or if we’d been in a more festive mood, Christmas trees.
We thoroughly enjoyed milling about the gallery, staring into the eyes of the many characters on display – the type that appear to follow you around the room – and sipping the champagne on offer. The Parma ham doing the rounds was also a real treat.
For more information on Philip Mould’s gallery and upcoming exhibitions [click here]
For more information about Allegra Hicks’ collection [click here]
Allegra Hicks
Nicky Haslam and Allegra Hicks